Very
rare legendary IWC International
Watch Company Mark XI Royal Air
Force Issue pilots watch dating from
1951. The IWC Mark XI is probably one
of the most sought after and collectable
of virtually all military watches. I
think this is for a number of reasons
one is that it was technically very
advanced for its time,and heralded a
few firsts in the watch making industry,
it has hacking seconds ( which means
when the winding button is pulled out
to set the time it stops the secondhand
hand of the watch enabling it to be
set exactly, the Mark XI also has an
inner soft iron case which protects
the movement from magnetic fields. The
Mark XI was also tested to chronometer
standard by the Ministry of Defence.
The watch consisting of untouched original
Black dial with Arabic and luminous
hour markers signed International Watch
Company and with Kings Arrow below signature
and Nato symbol above 6 'O' clock, original
hands (some of the luminous paint has
degraded on the hour hand which is to
be expected with the age, hand wound
movement in steel screw back case marked
on the case back with Ministry of defence
Kings Arrow and Royal Air Force ordinance
"6B/346" and "868/51".This
watch is in lovely original honest condition
throughout and is the way you want one
of these.Click Here to
see the back of the caseClick
Here to see a side view of the watch

The
physical resemblance IWC's Fleigerchronograph
bears to it's predecessors is written all
over it's face, but less obvious perhaps
is the fact that it's also inherited a number
of basic character traits. Such as
an antipathy towards magnetic fields, which,
thanks to an additional case of ferromagnetic
soft iron, are prevented from affecting
the movement, just like the large pilot's
watch and the "Mark XI" in their
own time. But it also represents the
start of a new age in the history of chronographs.
And has put a new generation on course
for a new world record - it is the smallest
in the world with analogue display. The
diameter is 23.3mm, with a height of 3.7mm.
So that time can be measured in so
many ways, it took 27 wheels and gears,
26 springs, cams orlevers, 25 rubies, 7
bridges, 32 screws... a total of 233
individual parts and countless ideas. The
idea, for instance, of how to master all
functions with only two step-motors: time
displayed in hours, minutes and seconds.
Date display with fast correction.
Stop-second display (accurate to 1/4
of a second), minute counter (to 3 minutes),
and hour counter (to 12 hours) including
incremental time counting. All simply
operated by means of push buttons above
and below the crown. The two quartz-controlled
watch and chronograph movements are shock
resistant at several thousands of meters
above the earth and up to 50 meters underwater.
The watch comes complete with all
boxes, paperwork, and a spare stainless
steel IWC buckle so the watch can be fitted
to a leather strap. This watch is
in truly exceptional condition.